By: Dr. Armãndo R. Tolliver | EDUCATOR | March 7, 2017 
Vatterott
(2009) made the assertion "We tend to reward working, instead of
learning." "Do the pile of work and you'll get the grade. Don't do
the work—and even if you demonstrate mastery of the skill or content—you won't
get the grade." Possibly worse is the message sent when we grade homework.
"When we grade homework, we're rewarding students who learn the first time"
(Vatterott, 2009), which can trade measures of learning and getting better at
something for measures of compliance (Cooper, 2015). If we grade kids while they are learning, then that penalizes
kids for taking risks, self-assessing, making adjustments, practicing, and
figuring out what works best for them to learn something, which can be lead to
decreased intrinsic motivation and institutionalize failure (Vatterott, 2009). Additionally,
even with diversity among learners in our classrooms, many teachers continue to
assign the same homework to all students in the class, which could be
contributing to the disproportionate number of students who fail from
lower-income households for not doing homework, in essence punishing them for
lack of an adequate environment in which to do homework (Vatterott, 2009). This
is certainly a concept I never considered. On the contrary, homework grades can
help students who work hard, but test poorly, receive a passing grade because
when grades are averaged, high scores for homework completion tend to mask poor
performance on other measures, producing a skewed picture of progress. Despite
all of the debate, one thing that remains certain is that homework provides
students with the opportunity to extend their learning outside the classroom
(Varlas, 2002). Therefore, teachers should rethink the reasons for assigning
homework and improve its instructional quality in order to ensure it is a sound
and valuable pedagogical practice that deepens student understanding and builds
essential skills.
Vatterott
(2009) highlighted five characteristics that are exhibited in the best homework.
First, the task has a clear academic purpose, such as practice, checking for
understanding, or applying knowledge or skills. Second, the task efficiently
demonstrates student learning. Third, the task promotes owner ship by offering
choices and being personally relevant. Fourth, the task instills a sense of competence—the
student can successfully complete it without help. Last, the task is
aesthetically pleasing—it appears enjoyable and interesting. This is important,
especially to teachers who assign busy work or believe more equates to rigor. Most
of my homework assignments are embedded with these characteristics, minus the
third point, but students complete the work. So, I do not think this is really where
my issue lies. Though, I could make a more conscientious effort to add more
student choice in the homework assignments. Perhaps the best option to do this
would be to use a choice
board that would allow students to choose how they want to express the
science content they are learning.
As
I reflect on how I have used homework as a strategy in the classroom, I must
admit, I have been guilty of dangling the carrot at students to get them to do
homework. “Remember homework is calculated into your grade. So make sure you do
it.” Grant it, I have had about 90% completion rate on homework assignments,
many students simply got together during lunch to rush and complete assignments,
correctly or incorrectly, which minimized the return on investment.
Additionally, it was rather difficult to know whether or not the student
actually did the work or copied it from a friend.
I
liked the fact that homework brought about this sort of forced collaboration or
study groups, but it brought about this false sense of progress and
achievement. Regardless of how many times I reminded students of our academic
honor statement and would say to students, “Do not copy other student’s
assignments. If you copy someone’s
work or allow them to copy yours both people will receive a zero and get a
phone call home. This is a form of
cheating and requires referral to discipline office. Not to mention your
syllabus clearly says how to fail. Never,
ever, do your homework, and if you decide to do homework, make sure you copy it
from someone else,” unless the homework
assignment was something that called for students to create something original
or I gave an in-class assignment/quiz that came directly from the homework, it
was sometimes difficult to determine who did what. Even at that, it is still
difficult to know who is actually doing the assignment when it is taken home.
For example, a student could get help from a parent, tutor, sibling or
classmate to complete the work. Also, if a student completed an assignment, but
had difficulty and did not bring them to my attention, he or she was indirectly
penalized if I decided to give a pop quiz parallel to the homework assignment.
One
of the things I think I do consistently ensure my students understand is that homework is assigned nightly, completing it is their
responsibility as a student, and keeping up with the reading is very
important! They need to stay up-to-date, and be prepared for a pop-quiz over
reading or homework assignments at any time. This is not a class where cramming the
day before a test will work! So,
they expect to complete a minimum of 3 hours of study outside of class each
week, and those who are taking multiple
courses are aware of the time commitment. Self-discipline is very
important. The vast majority of
the students who do not pass my biology and environmental science classes have
an inconsistent record of homework assignments and labs. The most successful
students are those who make a daily commitment to their studies.
In
more recent years, I began to use learning logs as an added homework tool to
help students focus on learning through exploration of what they know. I use
the learning logs as student reflections on specific subject material where
they clarify ideas and articulate their understanding of the concepts. These
also help students to improve writing fluency and depth of thought, a common
struggle for many students. Essentially, they are asked to address three
questions: a) what did you learn or what were the main ideas in today’s lesson,
b) what did you find most interesting in what you learned or what did you
understand best, and c) what questions do you still have about what you learned
today or how do these ideas relate to what you have already learned. Check out
this AVID
worksheet for ways to differentiate the learning logs and correlate them to
higher levels of thinking.
Assessment offers critical data about teaching and learning and can alter the direction and decisions made in a course. It also greatly impacts student and teacher success. When thinking about homework as a form of formative assessment, it might make more sense to use it to inform instructional practices and to give students advice without worrying about grades. Perhaps
in the future, I will create a “no formal homework policy” or simply award LiveSchool points to students who complete
homework and learning logs, which will give me time to simply focus on
providing constructive feedback to students in order for them to enhance their
understanding of content and use of skills before summative assessments.
Suggested Citation
Tolliver, A. R.
(2017). The Homework Debate.
[Education Project Online]. Retrieved online at http://www.educationprojectonline.com/2017/03/the-homework-debate.html.
References
Cooper, H. M. (2015). The battle over homework: common ground for
administrators, teachers, and parents. New York: Carrel Books.
Lee, S. W. (2005). Encyclopedia of school psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
Marzano, R. J., Pickering.
D. J, & Pollock, J. E. (2006). Classroom
instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student
achievement. Alexandria,
VA: ASCD.
Varlas, L. (2002). Getting
acquainted with the essential nine.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD
Curriculum Update.
Vatterott, C. (2009). Rethinking homework: best practices that
support diverse needs. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
No comments:
Post a Comment